1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 224 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 In response to scandals rocking the student loan industry, the House has quickly passed reform legislation to require more disclosure from lenders as we
2、ll as university codes of conduct, and Senate action is expected. But the larger issues of rising college costs and students increasing dependence on private loans have, for the moment at least, taken a back seat.Yet that doesnt mean theyve gone away. College costs have risen far faster than inflati
3、on and also outpaced the growth of grant aid and federal loans. Pell grants, for example, which provide money to low-income students, covered nearly 60 percent of the cost of attending a public four-year school in 1986, but by 2005, their value had dropped to 33 percent of the cost, according to the
4、 College Board. As a result, more students must turn to costly private loans to finance their education or not go at all.The cost of information technology, the increasing salaries of tenured professors, and even federal loans themselves have all been blamed for college tuition hikes. On the last po
5、int, an analysis by the Cato Institute suggests that when aid is provided by the federal government, states and universities reduce their own efforts to make college affordable.Whatever the causes, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, an independent committee created by Congress,
6、estimates that 400,000 students who are qualified to attend a four-year college dont do so each year because of financial restrictions. The committee estimates that roughly 40 percent of this group does not attend college at all, which significantly limits future earnings. Many students who do go to
7、 college face daunting piles of debt. The College Board estimates that the median debt level of bachelors degree recipients was $19,300 in the 2003-04 school year.In his fiscal 2008 budget, President Bush proposed increasing the maximum Pell grant award to $5,400 by 2012 from $4,050 today, a change
8、he would pay for with cuts in other loan programs. Even though the scandals are dominating most of the current discussions on Capitol Hill, some education experts praise the fact that student loans are getting any attention at all. Stephen Burd, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation
9、, says, “This is the first time everyone is dealing with the reality of the fact that private loans have become essential financing for undergraduates.“1 The reform legislation might result in _.（A）more expensive educational costs（B） the boom of loan industry（C） more transparent loans（D）the depressi
10、on of private loans2 It is stated in Paragraph 2 that Pell grants _.（A）cover the majority of the college costs（B） are intended to help impoverished students（C） have maintained their value from 1986 to 2005（D）keep pace with the rise of living costs3 The analysis by the Cato Institute seems to suggest
11、 that _.（A）the introduction of new information technologies will result in more costs（B） college tuition increase has something to do with the federal aids（C） more tenured professors who get large salaries will increase government aids（D）universities are not responsible to lower the college tuition4
12、 400,000 qualified students dont attend a four-year college in that they are_.（A）indebted to the Advisory Committee（B） afraid future earning might be limited（C） faced with other preconditions（D）confronted with financial constraints5 Which of the following is the best title for this text?（A）Loan Issu
13、es Come Due（B） Costs Up, Enrollments Down（C） Reform Legislation Needed（D）College Loan Scandal5 Neuroscientists have long understood that the brain can rewire itself in response to experiencea phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. But until recently, they didnt know what causes gray matter to become p
14、lastic, to begin changing. Breakthrough research by a team at MITs Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has documented one type of environmental feedback that triggers plas-ticity: success. Equally important and somewhat surprising: Its opposite, failure, has no impact.Earl Miller, the lead res
15、earcher on the study, says understanding the link to environmental feedback is crucial to improving how people teach and motivate because its a big part of how we learn. But we absorb more from success than from failure, according to the study.Millers researchers gave monkeys a simple learning task:
16、 They presented one of two pictures. If it was Picture A, the monkeys were supposed to look to the left; if Picture B, to the right. When the monkeys looked in the correct direction, they were rewarded with a drop of juice. All the while the team recorded brain function.“Neurons (cells specialized t
17、o conduct nerve impulses) in the prefrontal cortex and striatum, where the brain tracks success and failure, sharpened their tuning after success,“ says Miller. Whats more, those changes lingered for several seconds, making brain activity more efficient the next time the monkey did the task. Thereaf
18、ter, each success was processed more efficiently. That is, the monkey had learned. “But after failure,“ Miller points out, “there was little change in brain activity.“ In other words, the brain didnt store any information about what went wrong and use it the next time. The monkey just tried, tried a
19、gain.Miller says this means that on a neurological level, success is actually a lot more informative than failure. If you get a reward, the brain remembers what it did right. But with failure (unless there is a clear negative consequence, like the shock a child feels when she sticks something in an
20、electrical outlet), the brain isnt sure what to store, so it doesnt change at all.Does this research confirm the management tenet of focusing on yourand your teamsstrengths and successes? Miller cautions against making too tidy a connection between his findings and an environment like the workplace,
21、 but he offers this suggestion: “Maybe the lesson is to know that the brain will learn from success, and you dont need to dwell on that. You need to pay more attention to failures and challenge why you fail.“6 What is true about Earl Millers research?（A）It discovers neuroplasticity.（B） It is the fir
22、st study of this kind.（C） It studies one environmental feedback.（D）It attests to one cause of neuroplasticity.7 According to Millers study, failure as an environmental feedback _.（A）has a great impact on our neuro-system（B） can cause gray matter to become plastic（C） plays a more important role in le
23、arning than success（D）provides less benefits than success8 During the experiment each failure made the monkey _.（A）repeat the task fruitlessly（B） realize the right way to do the task（C） give up trying eventually（D）become more efficient and closer to success9 The example of an electric shock to a chi
24、ld in Paragraph 5 is given to show_.（A）success is much more informative than failure（B） failure is instructive if it is impressive（C） failure confuses the storing process of the brain（D）failure is stored only when it brings obvious negative outcomes10 In the last paragraph, Miller suggests that we s
25、hould _.（A）apply his findings to the workplace（B） be cautious while pursuing success（C） not think about the satisfaction of success（D）strive to learn from failures as well10 Do patents help or hinder innovation? Instinctively, they would seem a blessing. Patenting an idea gives its inventor a 20-yea
26、r monopoly to exploit the fruit of his labor in the marketplace, in exchange for publishing a full account of how the new product, process or material works for everyone to see. For the inventor, that may be a reasonable trade-off. For society, however, the loss ofcompetition through the granting so
27、le rights to an individual or organization is justified only if it stimulates the economy and delivers goods that change peoples lives for the better.Invention, though, is not innovation. It may take a couple of enthusiasts working evenings and weekends for a year or twonot to mention tens of thousa
28、nds of dollars of their savingsto get a pet idea to the patenting stage. But that is just the beginning. Innovations based on patented inventions or discoveries can take teams of researchers, engineers and marketing experts a decade or more, and tens of millions of dollars, to transfer to the market
29、place. And for every bright idea that goes on to become a commercial winner, literally thousands fall by the wayside.Most economists would argue that, without a patent system, even fewer inventions would lead to successful innovations, and those that did would be kept secret for far longer in order
30、to maximize returns. But what if patents actually discourage the combining and recombining of inventions to yield new products and processesas has happened in biotechnology, genetics and other disciplines?Or what about those ridiculous business-process patents, like As “one-click“ patent or the “nam
31、e-your-price“ auction patent assigned to P? Instead of stimulating innovation, such patents seem more about extracting “rents“ from innocent bystanders going about their business. One thing has become clear since business-process patents took off in America during the 1990s: the quality of patents h
32、as deteriorated markedly. And with sloppier patenting standards, litigation has increased. The result is higher transaction costs all round.It is not simply a failure of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to examine applications more rigorously. The Federal Circuit has been respon
33、sible for a number of bizarre rulings. Because of its diverse responsibilities, the Federal Circuitunlike its counterparts in Europe and Japan-has never really acquired adequate expertise in patent law.To be eligible for a patent, an invention must not just be novel, but also useful and non-obvious.
34、 Anything that relies on natural phenomena, abstract ideas or the laws of nature does not qualify. The USPTO has taken to requiring a working prototype of anything that supposedly breaches the laws of physics. So, no more perpetual-motion machines, please.11 What can we learn from the first paragrap
35、h?（A）It is a natural tendency for people to believe that innovation is stimulated by patents.（B） The inventors cannot reap the fruits of their patents until many years later.（C） Individuals and organizations welcome competitions brought about by the patentees.（D）Patenting can never be a blessing to
36、society if it fails to benefit people at large.12 The phrase “fall by the wayside“ (Para. 2) most probably means _.（A）give up（B） break down（C） drop off（D）fall over13 According to the author, the “one-click“ patent and the “name-your-price“ patent are _.（A）comical（B） shocking（C） absurd（D）unreasonable
37、14 The author holds that business-process patents _.（A）should have been introduced earlier（B） have helped innovation（C） should be responsible for rising prices（D）should achieve a higher standardization15 According to the text, which of the following is eligible for a patent?（A）The perpetual-motion m
38、achine.（B） A solar-powered automobile.（C） The “one-click“ online payment system.（D）A words-memorizing approach.15 At the Museum of Sex in New York City, artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy projected a mock image on a screen of a smiling bride in a wedding dress holding hands with a short r
39、obot groom. “Why not marry a robot? Look at this happy couple,“ he said to a laughing crowd.When Levy was then asked whether anyone who would want to marry arobot was deceived, his face grew serious. “If the alternative is that you are lonely and sad and miserable, is it not better to find a robot t
40、hat claims to love you and acts like it loves you?“ Levy responded. “Does it really matter, if youre a happier person?“ In his 2007 book, Love and Sex with Robots, Levy contends that sex, love and even marriage between humans and robots are coming soon and, perhaps, are even desirable. “I know some
41、people think the idea is totally peculiar,“ he says. “But I am totally convinced its inevitable.“The 62-year-old London native has not reached this conclusion on a whim. Levys academic love affair with computing began in his last year of university, during the vacuum-tube era. That is when he broade
42、ned his horizons beyond his passion for chess. “Back then people wrote chess programs to simulate human thought processes,“ he recalls. He later became engrossed in writing programs to carry on intelligent conversations with people, and then he explored the way humans interact with computers, a topi
43、c for which he earned his doctorate last year from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.Over the decades, Levy notes, interactions between humans and robots have become increasingly personal. Whereas robots initially found work, say, building cars in a factory, they have now moved into th
44、e home in the form of Roomba the robotic vacuum cleaner and digital pets such as Tamagotchis and the Sony Aibo.Science-fiction fans have witnessed plenty of action between humans and characters portraying artificial life-forms, such as with Data from the Star Trek franchise or the Cylons from the re
45、-imagined Batttestar Galactica. And Levy is betting that a lot of people will fall in love with such devices. Programmers can tailor the machines to match a persons interests or render them some what disagreeable to create a desirable level of friction in a relationship. “Its not that people will fa
46、ll in love with an algorithm but that people will fall in love with a convincing simulation of a human being, and convincing simulations can have a remarkable effect on people,“ he says.16 In the opening paragraph, the snapshot at the Museum of Sex serves to_.（A）introduce the topic（B） provide a back
47、ground（C） explain a phenomenon（D）summarize the main idea17 David Levy would most probably agree that _.（A）the idea of a human marrying a robot is totally crazy（B） deception might result in a human marrying a robot（C） robots can be created capable of loving just as humans do（D）it is not impossible fo
48、r a human to marry a robot18 The phrase “on a whim“ (Para. 3) most probably means _.（A）in haste（B） all of a sudden（C） on his own（D）out of the blue19 Roomba, Tamagotchis, and the Sony Aibo are mentioned to show that_.（A）the development of robots is really fascinating（B） robots have made their contrib
49、utions to housework（C） robots have been transferred from factories to homes（D）humans have developed a more personal relationship with robots20 In Levys view, why should the robots be made somewhat disagreeable?（A）To match the interests of human beings.（B） To make them as sentimental as human beings.（C） To vividly imitate a relationship.（D）To improve the accuracy of their performances.20 On 26 March, the Italian Senate approved a bill that would give physicians in the countr
